a scandal in scandinavia now sweden's revealed to be in on the spying game helping the n.s.a. snoop on the russian leadership also. of the christian community in syria. religious officials played for action to protect syria's christians where a group of nuns is still being held by rebel forces plus. there should be no doubt where the united states stands on all of this. america weighs in on ukraine's ongoing crisis supporting the opposition as protesters give president . old some item. and r.t. look to ukraine's hardline nationalist groups and make claims that they're hijacking the country's pro

a huge demonstrations. and i welcome you watching r.t. international coming to you live from moscow. now sweden's been helping america's n.s.a. to spy on russian leaders and provided washington with a list of high profile targets swedish state t.v. site documents leaked by whistleblower edward snowden let's go live now to our tease peter oliver he was got more details for sir peter what exactly is emerging here. well these latest leaked documents look into the swedish national defense radio establishment that's known as the the f r a that monitors communications in the swedish intelligence service now it claims that the f r a

we're looking into high priority russian targets this includes leadership and into internal political figures now it's unclear from the documents that have been put forward whether senior leaders like vladimir putin or anybody else had their private communications listened into and we've tried to contact both the f.r.a. and president putin's spokes person both of them saying they don't comment on these type of matters now a separate document that was released was there was to address to n.s.a. personnel that were working with the swedes and i told them that they should thank sweden for the continued work on the russian target now all of this coming out showing that sweden is just another part of the system of this this widespread global n.s.a. spying program that seems to be to looking into many other countries and has many of the countries working as partners with it and this information of course comes

out on the same day as it's been revealed that the n.s.a. tracks the mobile phone records of five billion people per day those mobile phone records of course would allow you to know where somebody was moving around the world so it seems that months after we first heard from the leaks of edward snowden revelations continue to come out this time showing that sweden was helping the n.s.a. to spy on russia it is a fascinating development thank you very much that's peter oliver. well we can bring in british investigative journalist paul lashmar to talk more about this story areas mr lashmar thank you very much for coming on to the pry them there i mean all this is yet to be verified but if it does prove to be true how much of a controversy could this blow into. well it won't help the relationship between sweden and russia i think what's going on here is we were always we've known for a long while that the swedish sigint capability is quite developed. a lot with the

british intelligence in the past but as with all things to do with with snowden's documents there's one thing for experts on the outside think of what you know suspecting that we are under all sorts of surveillance it's quite another when we actually start to get the evidence when we start to get the evidence and we realize the sheer scale which i think exceeds the expectations of virtually anybody that the sheer scale of international mass surveillance of individuals governments and anybody that they take an interest in and would it also surprise many people do you think that sweden is actually involved in this because they have not been involved in any revelations so far so presumably many would be surprised yourself maybe in clady that they are involved in this new thing well it's been known to those who take an interest that sweden has a good capability and it has been locked in a as what we see h.q. certainly in the past but i think this really sort of ups the going of the fact

that we're talking about unique document describes them as providing new unique insight into what's going on in russia now and what about the timing of these leaks it is that significant in any way. well that's hard to tell i mean i don't it seems to me that the way the snowden material is coming out is. incremental but whether it's time it's very hard to tell because it's hard to know when the journalists who work at the swedish the t.v. journalists who did this when they got the documents and how long it's taken them to verify the information they've got so it's very hard to judge whether something is premeditated for a particular effect and in terms of ramifications again we can only speculate but what do you think about the relationship between russia and sweden because they have been cooperating on many projects including those in the arctic region could they be in jeopardy do you think. so if this but everybody knows everybody spies on

everybody else that we don't know the extent and i think what we've discovered in the last few months is just the sheer scale of it so you know it's quite a different sort of puts things in a different position when you know for certain another country is located to your country and i think you know so it may have an impact i don't suspect the russian government's going to be best pleased to see this material and you know it may feed into you know it may cause a diplomatic. fallout ultimately and in terms of the mention there about the wide scale of this snooping i mean how far can it stray mean they they can literally follow people's mobile phones and pick up conversations on all cell phones and where can it end. what we now know is that the us aided by a number of countries including britain sweden and canada are engaged in mass of violence on the scale that we are never to that we really would have thought was

possible excepted you know science fiction accounts i mean the sheer scale of it is absolutely phenomenal and how much of that you think is intentional the n.s.a. for example says that it's not tracking people's movement intentionally but it does happen to get lakeisha data from all their mobile phones and they say that that is always a legal and what's your view on that what is it is it legal i mean this is all up in the air so if it was accidental why were they doing it they don't collect this stuff for nothing what are they looking for exactly what are the implications what do they do with it how long do they store it all these questions are up in the air is it legal world one gets very mixed messages for the united states about the legality of this you know the the agencies. say they're doing things legally but then you see senior congressman saying whoa i didn't know they were doing that and i'm on one of the committees but you know my thirty years of experience tells me

that the whole thing with intelligence agencies if you give them a mission and you allow them to conduct their business in secret the mission creeps they go they always expand this in there a night nature that's why they have to be incredibly tightly regulated and have you know major oversight and i think we're beginning to see that oversight hasn't worked in these all these countries ok we do have to leave it there but thank you very much that paul lashmar from now university thank you. calls are mounting for a broad international effort to secure the release of twelve nuns reportedly held by radical islamist rebels in syria the women were seized from a ministry during an opposition is sold in a predominantly christian town and paula slay reports it's the latest in a series of attacks on religious targets in the country. twelve nuns and three of they hope those who belong to the orthodox monastery of moola are believed to have

been moved to brood now according to syrian opposition activists the women will move for their own safety but earlier religious officials said that the women were abducted by members of the al nusra front which is affiliated to al qaida the syrian observatory for human whites says that the women were taken after several days of intensive fighting during which the front find to eventually manage to capture the old quarter of moola and various reports point to the fact that these are mr front fighters entered the orthodox monastery in the same term of mosul know where these women were while there's a lot of concern particularly amongst christians living in syria as the attacks against their communities seemingly escalate we have heard from the pope who has decided to pray for the safety of these women and earlier we at r.t. spoke with the international christian concern who said that they were extremely

worried and extremely troubled by this incident in particular they have called on rebel forces to ensure the safety of these women and also make sure that all lines of communication with them remain open there are several muslim clerics who have also condemned the abduction in the strongest terms we denounce their deeds confirm that terrorism is a savage monster which wants to do with our all religious and humanitarian values they came to cuba and kidnap a few muslim in moms and christian priests in our job of ships and the like they kidnapped driessen priestess of events in one dangerous conspiracy. of the church in syria which they want to grab to the stone age genius or to. the country many christians have left and are now living as refugees elsewhere and. mascots because they're so fearful of the situation the last time that i was in a syria i visited the city of homes where both the syrian army as well as people

who are returning to the question quarter showed me around atlanta churches and spoke about the fear that they to have as attacks on the christian community inside syria escalates. and his video allegedly showing another rebel attack on a christian site in syria this is an ancient orthodox mourner street near damascus the opposition justified be a soldier it claims that government troops were using it as a firing position so the rebels unleashed a bear are on the site and several people were reportedly wounded in the attack party's kevin owen spoke with an anglican priest from syria who says christians are being used as cannon fodder in the public. thousands and thousands hundreds of thousands of christians where this place from their homes and a lot of christians were killed we still have two bishops missing from from

aleppo we don't know anything about them and now another attack on the on the christian community in syria and the world is watching it because the christians in syria big specifically targeted will just sit there getting caught up in a wider conflict what's the picture i think they are being used by both sides. as a political card because the regime wants also to free to to show that they are protecting the minorities the christians and they are begging for for the international community to interfere to release the nuns where the the rebels they are turning the blind eyes to the al qaida and the islamists to target specifically christians there is a systematic attack on the christian community in syria and hundreds

of thousands of christians were displaced. a senior american diplomat has waded into ukraine's unrest encouraging the opposition on their on going pro e.u. mass protest. this is ukraine's moment to meet the aspirations of its people or to disappoint them and risk descending into chaos and violence there should be no doubt where the united states stands on all of this. assistant secretary of state of victoria nuland was speaking at a preplanned regional security summit in kiev meanwhile the opposition in crane has delivered an ultimatum to the president threatening to set up around the clock blockade of government institutions unless an election is held but as arena glues can report the nature of the protests is shifting. from the lorry to green glory to the heroes is the fischel slogan of the hardly

a nationalist movement known as the ukrainian insurgent army and the chant heard among the crowds in key of these days here is just a couple of these protesters cheerleaders mr elect hardly book founder of the nationalist pub or the party and the man inspired by the actions of the u.i. aides wartime militias they took up machine guns and fought the russians the germans and the jews those who quote wanted to take away our ukrainian land and this is. another far right activist from the radical nationalist but movement so we need war that's the main thing an organisation like cars can't exist without war. is one of those suspected of arranging the bulldozer action give over the weekend the men will present the ultra nationalist sentiment that is popular in western ukraine which has traditionally gravitated towards europe rather than moscow many hope we will fight for the european union until the end and even if they bring your tanks we will win which must go i'm ready to pick up any keep forty seven and start

shooting up to a thousand people go to clear of every day and our motto is to go over to the end our resistance. forces consist of afghanistan war veterans and former security service officials recent polls show the country's sharply divided on the issue with more than seventy percent of those living in western ukraine favoring the deal with the european union but that drops to less than thirty percent in the east in kiev what began as a campaign over trade ties with europe is now descending into a rallying cry for ukrainian nationalism good enough you know what that's when these people are being passed off as innocent kids who suffered during the peaceful process i'm sorry i've seen others there who clearly were nonmilitary and then there were others would not give them their pockets why would anyone do that when going to a peaceful protest. yet it seems to be escaping some of europe and america's

political heavyweights that there is a rowdy rightwing driving force taking root in the go scope party. meanwhile european politicians have been visiting protest camps in central kiev political science professor nicholai petraeus who is in kiev at the moment believes the e.u. doesn't have the best interests of ukrainian people at heart. one sided message. board or the policies of the of the u. and it is an attempt to attract ukraine to sign the association agreement i think it's a short sighted position one that seeks to divide drive a wedge rather between ukraine and russia whereas a more alongside it position but actually encourage both russia and ukraine to associate and come together with the e.u. and portugal there seems to be more of a divisive in a confrontational approach than one that aims reconsolidation well the e.u.'s

efforts maybe in winning ukraine right now but in a few minutes we hear about the struggles and it's having in its having in keeping citizens in its current nations out of poverty. plane is being compared to a lady home on a want and takes money from an old an elderly gentleman but one sister and her time with a handsome young man but sometimes you know you really have to choose i mean you cannot have both if you're using that kind of metaphors i think you should clearly separate the present existence ukrainian authorities we should have been negotiated in a very embarrassing way was both the european union russia and ukraine a nation. dramas

that try to be ignored. stories others to fuse to notice. the faces change the world writes never. to picture of today's you know. from around the globe. look to. i. even while the e.u. keeps the welcome mat down for potential new members it could be setting itself up for trouble ahead one of the impending threats is widespread poverty which some say the bloc just won't be able to handle over twenty percent of europe's population now is the risk of poverty bulgaria is one of the most impoverished countries with

nearly half its population living close to the bread line remain isn't far behind there where four out of ten find it hard to make ends meet and bailed out greece slightly over thirty percent of the population is struggling to meet financial demands and among the major economies there also italy and spain have roughly the same proportion of people under pressure from harsh or stereotyped measures more than a quarter peace going off is it a food bank in rome where essential provisions are handed out to the city's poorest marco used to work as a pizza your many italians used to call it the golden skill which would always get you work in law but it didn't hold true for marco one day he was sacked and has not been fired since he's been living on the street for about four years now and says at forty six he sees little chance of fixing his wife he asked us not to reveal his identity. when you live on the street survival is what takes up most of your time

simply gets in a shower is a challenge it's so much time to take care of yourself like a normal person you reach the end of the day and you're exhausted and depressed. would be an economy going through its longest recession since the second world war over twelve percent of adults are unemployed while four out of ten young people don't have a job there are no official figures on the homeless we have any type of food the three can get for free from somewhere more italians are beginning to turn to charity and humanitarian aid for help two years ago we had about fifty five percent were foreign minister and the forty five percent today we have about sixty five percent valient thirty five percent for us to completely rebuild everything on the shelves is free given in exchange for points allocated to low income families by the global charity network to reach us most of the food is near

its expiration date except for special we were able to aid it's real similar to an ordinary supermarket you've got bread pasta dairy products vegetables and sort of the one thing which really stands out are these packages with signs saying not for sale this is humanitarian aid from the european union and altogether these products make up around a third of all the stuff here. caritas is now raising the alarm saying around one third of all italian children are at risk of poverty and are lacking basic essential such as protein rich foods heating and clothes you've got the skin of our t. rome. was born international red cross survey says europe is experiencing its worst humanitarian crisis for decades millions are unable to afford a ring five of their heads with a seventy five percent increase in people were dying on food aid across the continent the organizations you're a pain director told us that the number of people having to turn to charities

beyond their worst expectations. we have seen since we did our first survey in two thousand and nine and on to two thousand and thirteen is. that the crises are really taking root at community level at individual level and that household level to a different degree because people today has used all their savings there's nothing left we're seeing a rapid decrease in what we call the middle class people the british red cross what they are doing right now and what they lost more than a moment is that is the biggest food distribution campaign seems to say conclude all it is serious in even for the ones of force working in this business on a daily basis we were shocked when we saw there cumulated data across europe morocco's got high hopes for marijuana as we reported on wine it's looking to

legalize the cultivation of cannabis but insists it's for medical reasons even though there are fears that farmers could be at the mercy of drug barons. and on r.t. you tube channel watchers an army of argentinean villains and vandals make the most of a strike by police. yemen's defense ministry complex in the heart of the capital has been shaken by a car bomb and more than two hours of intense gunfighting at least twenty nine people are thought to have been killed including four medical staff in the attack that apparently targeted the hospital section of the compound officials say almost all the terrorists have now been eliminated some yemeni politicians say the assault appears to be the work of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula it's a powerful terrorist cell that's repeatedly attacked the government in recent years we talked to an eyewitness who was at the saw the attack from his home near the

base. right witness. the smart person writes in for. the shock of the marching. in the wind no more the. following from an inspiration it's incredible couldn't. turn. around and shit different they're going to shut it up it's much crocs and you know there are reports. james cole but from the online you source the colbert report believes the rangers have yemen's violence a far from a far more complex than. this attack is quite unusual including not only the fact that it was not just a suicide bombing but as you say there were militants that stormed the defense ministry afterwards and engaged in a firefight. with members of the security forces and these gunmen were apparently

according to reports dressed in military fatigues so this is quite an interesting and coordinated attack that's just it concludes and the former forces associated with silly in the former the former ruling party in yemen tends to blame these attacks on al qaeda militants because that helps to ensure u.s. military aid and and financial aid to the two yemeni government but i think we have to understand that this is part of a political transition that's taking place right now and there's a great degree of instability so we have to understand that there is some intense political rivalries that are happening right now coming up next ukraine spiraling armrests from the inside as well as a pot talks in-depth the parliament deputy on that i should check.

we often see the middle east as a place of constant turmoil and revolution but people in thailand seem to be very fired up as well masses of protesters are force a government ministries to shut down by storming them with human waves one such ministry is the thai equivalent of the american f.b.i. which has been accused of killing around ninety people in a crackdown on those who support ousted prime minister taksin shinawatra who is the brother of the current leader wow people are crying out for democracy with accusations of violence against protesters so where is barack obama john kerry the mainstream media i mean whatever some group of rebels protestors are i mean freedom fighters rise up for democracy are we supposed to arm them like in syria and or bomb their country back into the stone age like in libya serbia iraq some protests explode across the mainstream media with calls for intervention and others are almost totally silent like thailand and bulgaria where there have also been storming of buildings less than a month ago i might be a conspiracy theorist but the selective coverage and selective concern for some

humans rights and off the rights of others well it smells a bit fishy to me but that's just my opinion. it's technology innovations all the developments around russia we. covered. hello welcome to worlds apart with every passing day ukraine's choice between closer ties with the european union or russia seems more like a choice between good and evil a democratic future and the authoritarian past but it is the choice really so stark

well to discuss that van allen joined by and. a member of the ukrainian parliament on a strong supporter of european integration mr shift chunka thank you very much for your time great to be with you first of all could you update us on what is happening in kiev right now. while we're at them i done independence right back from the parliament to where we had a no confidence vote for the korean government and as you already know it failed. only one candidate in eighty six m.p.'s voted to put the government down there were two reasons to do this no confidence or first is the collapse of the association agreement was the european union and second it's the bloody police attack on peaceful protesters here on the way done sort of the saturday morning as we can see behind your back people are still gathering in the center of here i wonder what do you protest there's really want right now are they still rallying in favor of the

association agreement or they want something out. as you can see the independence square is already full of people and people keep arriving as a consumer left and right this is the first reaction to these to this no confidence vote in the in the parliament we should wish failed actually i think after this we lost a good opportunity to start finding our way out of the political process and sunanda people here and went down they clearly demand we want the president to step down that's the way to solve the political crisis that's the way to get closer to this decision agreement was the european union you mentioned earlier the brutal use of force by the police and we've all seen the footage from key of and i think everybody including president you know calling himself recognise that the use of force was excessive and as far as we understand the investigation is underway and before that investigation.